


A Conversation in Andante

by silveradept



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Kairi Isn't Having It, Riku Angst (Kingdom Hearts), Riku Has Issues (Kingdom Hearts), Sitting On That Clown To Talk About His Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 10:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20172493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: It takes a lot to get Riku to talk about his feelings. And when he does, he tends not to actually talk a whole lot. Kairi is persistent, though, and gets what she wants out of him.





	A Conversation in Andante

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serie11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/gifts).

"You're planning on leaving again, aren't you?"

It sounded like a question, but Riku knew Kairi wasn't asking.

"King Mickey—" he began.

"Told you to take a vacation."

"Master Yen Sid—"

"Is nowhere near here. I would know, too."

"Master Aqua—"

"Has a lot of catching up to do with Terra and Ventus."

"Roxas—"

"Is currently having the time of his life with the rest of the Sea Salt Trio in Twilight Town."

"Naminé—"

"Is _fine_. She called yesterday from Radiant Garden to say she was going to take a Gummi Ship to Twilight Town and eat at the bistro."

Riku stared at Kairi, who returned his gaze with a look of mild disapproval.

"I suppose I'm not getting away that easily," he said, sitting back down on the tree that had been the spot for all three of them. He left space for Sora out of habit.

"No," Kairi said, closing the distance and sitting next to him. "You're not running away from me. Or Sora."

Riku turned his attention to the sunset. "Where is Sora, anyway? He's later than usual."

Kairi smiled. "I asked him to wait until we were done before he appeared," she said. "I know how this game works. He would keep talking for as long as you let him. You would sagely nod along until he said something completely silly, and then you would tell him to get serious. And maybe you two would spar some, because Sora knew you always liked to tell us about your feelings with your body instead of your mouth. And the whole time you wouldn't say anything at all."

"That's not true," Riku said, jumping off the tree. "I'll prove it to you."

"How, Riku?" Kairi called after him.

Riku froze for a moment, considering his options, before slumping his shoulders in defeat.

Kairi leapt off the tree, turning a flip through the air before landing next to him.

"I've heard talking is a pretty good way of letting us know about your feelings, too," she said.

"Talking was always Sora's specialty," Riku said, chuckling. "King Mickey is supportive, strong, and talented, but he didn't talk much about anything but the mission."

Kairi frowned. "I'd say _having feelings_ is Sora's specialty, Riku," she said, lightly punching him in the shoulder. "You keep yours bottled up so much, it's hard to tell."

Riku shivered, just slightly enough for Kairi to notice.

"Cold?" Kairi asked. "The sun is still out."

"No," Riku said. "Not cold."

"Then what is it?" Kairi asked, annoyed that it was taking this much effort.

"It's nothing," Riku said, turning away.

"Fine," was the only warning Riku got. In a clearly well-practiced move, Kairi stepped in front of Riku, determination in her eyes as she swept his foot from underneath him right before he took his next step.

Riku tucked his body so he could spring back up after landing, but as soon as he hit the sand, Kairi sat on him, knocking the wind out of him for long enough for her to pin his arms to his side with her legs as she straddled him. 

"_Spill_," she said, crossing her arms and giving him her most intimidating look.

"No." he said flatly.

"Why not?" 

"If I'd had better control in the past, none of this would have happened!" he snapped. 

Kairi stared at him with open-mouthed shock for a moment before recovering.

"You...oh." Her face softened. "You blame yourself, don't you?"

"Don't you?" he said. "I wanted to explore, and that let the darkness in. And then I was afraid, and the darkness took over. If I had been content with what I had, Sora wouldn't have had to come find me. Or you. We could have all been safe. And together."

Kairi uncrossed her arms and set them gently on Riku's chest.

"You know I love you, Riku, but you're a blockhead," she said. At Riku's look of confusion, she continued. "Princess of Heart, remember? The Heartless were always going to come here. If anyone should blame themselves for what happened, it should be me."

"You didn't give in to your inner darkness," Riku grumbled.

"Sorry, did you say 'You didn't find an entirely new way of harnessing the light and the dark together'? Because that's what I heard," Kairi said.

"You're as bad as Sora," Riku said, although he couldn't help cracking a smile at the thought.

"And as persistent. So you can admit I'm right, or we can sit here in the sand until the sun goes down."

"And if I decide I'm going to use my true power instead?"

"Go ahead," Kairi said, as if the prospect bored her. "You'll still end up like this."

"And why is that?" Riku asked, amused.

Kairi leaned down until she was almost touching noses with Riku, then leaned further to whisper in his ear. 

"Because you want it this way," she told him, straightening back up.

A complex dance of emotions played on Riku's face: shame, embarrassment, denial, fear, and eventually, some form of resignation.

"You're right," he said, matter-of-factly. "Will you let me go?"

"No," Kairi said, laughing. "We haven't actually _talked_ yet."

Riku turned his head away from her. "What is there to talk about?"

"Why don't we start with something light, like how afraid you are that you're going to hurt someone?" Kairi said.

"I'm not," he said.

"And yet, here I am, still sitting on top of you," she said. "Not that I'm complaining. The view is wonderful, but if you had actually wanted to get out from under me, you could have."

Riku scowled. "So?"

"Ugh," Kairi snapped, rolling her eyes. "You can't possibly be this dense! You've black-and-bruised Sora a hundred times or more, even after you both got your Keyblades."

"That's different," Riku protested.

"And why is that?"

Riku hesitated. Kairi glared.

"Okay, you're right," Riku said hesitatingly, trying to avoid her eyes. "I'm afraid I'm going to let the darkness take over again and hurt you."

"Do you think I can't defend myself against you? Because that can be fixed," Kairi said.

"No, you can," Riku backpedaled. "I...if I hurt you, then I don't deserve you. Or anyone else. And I've already hurt you a lot."

"You are _such a blockhead_, Riku." Kairi said. "We're your friends. Friendship sometimes means getting hurt. And sometimes means diving into someone's dreams to protect them from nightmares."

Riku opened his mouth to protest, but it died in his throat.

"You can be vulnerable," Kairi said gently. "You have friends who will support you. You're not alone."

Riku heard something land in the sand. Before he could think, he'd sprang up, Keyblade at the ready, Dark Firaga in hand, before he registered what had happened.

"A coconut," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe I do need a vacation."

"How are you feeling?" Kairi called from behind him.

Riku's face went pale as he remembered where Kairi had been before he'd thrown her off. Dispelling his Keyblade as he turned, his eyes swept over her, looking for any sign of injury. "Did I hurt you?"

"Nope!" Kairi stuck her tongue out at him from the coconut tree she was leaning against. "Told you."

Riku violently shivered, dropping to his knees and hugging himself. Kairi ran over to him.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he said to himself.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she said to him.

"Kairi?" he said, looking at her and blinking. "Are you really here?"

"I'm here," she said, hugging him.

His hands were hesitant as they wrapped around her, as if he wasn't sure any more. After a while, he seemed to return to himself.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't understand."

He chuckled weakly. "I've tried to hide it from you and Sora."

Kairi hugged him tighter.

"I'm not going to let you go," she said.

They stayed there for a while, wrapped in each other, before the island was too dark for Kairi to see.

"I still love the view," Kairi said, "but we should sadly be getting inside."

"Heh, about that," Riku chuckled awkwardly. "I spent enough time in the Realm of Darkness that, well, I can still see pretty well."

"Oh, really?" Kairi said, beaming. "Prove it. Kiss me."

"What?"

"Kiss me," she said. "You've wanted to for a while, right?"

Kairi could feel the heat from Riku's embarrassment. "That obvious, huh?" he said.

"Yep. You and Sora both," Kairi said. "Before all of this even began, you two both had a crush on me. All of those competitions and the ridiculous score-keeping came through pretty clearly. You both hoped I would choose you instead of the other one."

She felt Riku shrug slightly, not admitting or denying her reasoning.

"I was never going to choose between you when I could have you both," she continued. "Until now, though, Sora was the only one who could tell me that he was interested."

Riku thought about this for a long time, so much so that Kairi worried he had fallen asleep.

"So, you are interested in me?"

"Yes."

"And you're not afraid?"

"No."

"You saw what happened."

"Yes, Riku. You jumped to protect me from something terrible, and you're worried all you will ever be is someone who fights and hurts and has to worry about their darkness taking over," she said, guiding his hands into hers. "I think you're more than that, I want you to be happy, and I think we'll both be very happy if you kiss me."

Riku gently brushed the hair out of Kairi's face, and blinked at the way her eyes fluttered at him.

"On the lips, Riku," she said sternly, switching from twitterpated to commanding remarkably quickly.

He leaned in, hesitantly, and lightly pecked her on the lips.

She smiled at him and shivered slightly.

"Cold?" he asked.

"Good start. More," she demanded in reply. "Rest your arm on the back of my neck. Yes, like that. Kiss me again."

So long as they went slowly, she kept reassuring him that he was doing it correctly and that he wasn't hurting her, it turned out that Riku learned quickly. 

"What will we tell Sora?" Riku asked after they had kissed quite a bit.

"The truth," Kairi said. "He'll be happy for us."

"I thought you wanted to kiss both of us?" 

"I do," she said, "but before I do that, I need you to know that I'm not going to go run off with Sora as soon as I bring him in. So you and I are going to go as slowly as you need, and then we'll talk about Sora."

Riku nodded. Feeling bold, he reached out to take Kairi's hand.

"Can I kiss you again?" he asked. 

She turned to him, a radiant smile on her face as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"Yes."


End file.
